Ken Mac Leod
Scottish ScienceFiction Author not to be confused with KenBitskoMacLeod.
Author of:
The Fall Revolution tetralogy
- TheStarFraction [ISBN 0765301563]
- TheStoneCanal [ISBN 0812568648]
- TheCassiniDivision [ISBN 0812568583]
- TheSkyRoad [ISBN 0812577590]
The Engines of Light trilogy
- CosmonautKeep [ISBN 0765340739]
- DarkLight [ISBN 0765344963]
- EngineCity [ISBN 076530502X]
Newton's Wake [ISBN 0765305038]
His books use science fiction partially as a forum to explore political ideas. TheStarFraction has some emphasis on communism, within the framework of a society that has some similarities to that of NealStephenson's SnowCrash. TheStoneCanal explores anarchism/AnarchoCapitalism.
It's not all dead serious. As a fillip, Mr. MacLeod also lightly salts his novels with subtle in-jokes.
TheStoneCanal has a well-written passage portraying a surprising use of BootStrapping.
TheStoneCanal may have been inspired in part by DavidFriedman's 1971 The Machinery of Freedom [ISBN 0812690699], a libertarian guide to AnarchoCapitalism. Note the similarities: one of the main characters of TheStoneCanal is David Reed (who is a major proponent of AnarchoCapitalism), and the title of the first part of the novel is "The Machinery of Freedom". Mr. Friedman is also reputed to be a SF fan.
If you are referring to David Director Friedman, he is indeed an SF fan, among other things. Wikipedia link [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_D._Friedman]''